Lady Di, a fashionista who turned the royal wardrobe upside down
A favorite target of photographers, aware of the power of appearance, Princess Diana used her wardrobe as a banner, helping to dust off the royal wardrobe and inspire stylists 20 years after her death.
When she married Prince Charles in 1981, she was barely twenty years old and looked like a young flower girl. But within a few years, "Shy Di" ("Shy Di"), as she was nicknamed at the time, came out of her shell and understood that her appearance could be a great communication tool. She then swapped her wise floral dresses and collarettes for more glamorous outfits.
"She had learned very quickly to use fashion as an instrument" and used it to "send messages or promote causes", says Libby Thompson, one of the curators of the exhibition "Diana: her life through fashion", presented at Kensington Palace until February 28, 2018. "The princess learned to make her wardrobe say what it could not express", also underlines the fashion director of the British magazine Tatler Sophie Goodwin in The New York Times.
Never gloves
Diana did not hesitate to play with royal protocol, baring her shoulders, wearing black elsewhere than at funerals or donning androgynous outfits such as a tuxedo with matching a bow tie. Capturing the eye of photographers who will machine-gun her at a time when the parades of stars dressed on red carpets were in their infancy.
Another breach of royal protocol, Diana refused to wear gloves, to be closer to people, explains Eleri Lynn, another curator of the exhibition at Kensington Palace. Images where we see her shaking hands with AIDS patients, in 1987, particularly marked the spirits at a time when this disease still conveyed many fears, such as that it could be transmitted by touch.
Diana was also a master of the art of dressing for every situation. Visiting children in the hospital? She wore colorful clothes to appear warm and approachable. A trip abroad? She wore colors in homage to the country visited, such as a dress with large red polka dots in Japan in 1986.
An Instagram account dedicated to her look
Among the outfits that made an impression was the Victor Edelstein midnight blue velvet dress that she wore to a dinner at the White House in 1985 It was in this dress that the Princess of Wales danced with actor John Travolta, to the rhythm of the disco anthem "You Should be Dancing" from the film "Saturday Night Fever". Nicknamed the "Travolta" dress, it even has its own Wikipedia page.
After her divorce, Diana's transformation accelerated. She abandoned British fashion designers for international houses such as Lacroix, Dior or Chanel. The princess is definitely relegating soft hats and puffy ball gowns to the closet, adopting more daring outfits like a sky blue dress by Jacques Azagury, above the knee and close to the body, which she wears at the Royal Albert Hall in 1997.
Even today, his look continues to be dissected even on social networks. An Instagram account, entitled "Princess Diana forever", followed by nearly 150,000 people, publishes photographs daily, offering her a modern pantheon. It also influences creators. The latest example to date, the artistic director of the American brand Off-White, Virgil Abloh, has announced a collection in preparation for September inspired by the princess. The online clothing site ASOS had launched a tribute line to Diana in October 2016, with a collection with urban trends.
